With A Friend Like This…

Luke 5:18-19 And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus.

Do you have friends like this? People who don’t just talk about doing but do and don’t stop. People who are ready to do the hard work of their solutions. People who don’t just drop you at someone else’s doorway and leave you to get yourself the rest of the way.

I want friends like this! But even more… I want to be a friend like this!

THIS looks like love!

On the other side of the coin, I admire the paralyzed man. Yes, he couldn’t really stop them if they decided they knew what was best for him. But I don’t get the impression that he was a victim of these do-gooders. I get the impression that all of the players were on the same page and fully engaged in getting this man to the Healer.

Notice they didn’t have a front row seat. They weren’t on the VIP list. They were in the back of the crowd.

We might be a little concerned that they had no regard for someone else’s  property. In our culture, we might even condemn them for busting through the roof uninvited.

How dare they…

This looks like love but it also looks like FAITH. They believed Jesus could… they believed Jesus would… they believed Jesus.

Earlier I asked if you had friends like these. But honestly… if you go to Jesus like they did, you have the BEST FRIEND of all!

Romans 5:6 For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 

This Friend went all the way to the grave so that we might have life. This Friend paid our debt when we had nothing to give.

Jesus doesn’t just lower us through the roof of heaven, He raises us from the dead and gives us eternal life.

Jesus, He doesn’t just look like love… He IS love!

WHAT A FRIEND we have in Jesus…

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB  version of the Bible